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University Endowments Aren’t Bank Accounts

It is disappointing to find James Piereson and Naomi Schaefer Riley embracing the “your-money-is-our-money” ethos regarding college endowments

Oct. 27, 2016 2:30 p.m. ET

It is disappointing to find James Piereson and Naomi Schaefer Riley embracing the “your-money-is-our-money” ethos regarding college endowments (“The Ivy League Doesn’t Need Taxpayers’ Help,” op-ed, Oct. 17). The fact that they are targeting wealthy institutions doesn’t make their proposals any less confiscatory. And the fact that Congress could exercise great leverage by threatening to withhold or renege on other transactions argues for universities to rebuff federal blandishments rather than for Washington to micromanage university budgets.